Albury & District Historical Society

22/08/2025

Albury & District Historical Society has a new video on our YouTube Channel. The video covers the development of the eastern end of Dean street. After a slow start, in the early 20th development accelerated at that end of the main street. There is a focus on the contribution of the Syrian/Lebanese community and other families who had a role in the commercial development from Olive street to Young street.
Go to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDzIPypinJegksrO-l2ssVg

15/08/2025

A very muddy corner of Smollett St and Olive St in about 1871 – work is underway building St Patrick’s Church, it was blessed and opened on November 24, 1872. The building to the left of centre is the temporary Catholic Church, St Bridget’s, built in 1858 - it doubled as the Catholic School and continued as a school after St. Patrick’s Church was completed, demolished in 1938. Visible on the left of the old photo is the Mercy convent. The Christian Brothers opened their school (left in the new photo) in 1917, the section visible in the photo is part of the 1931 extension.

08/08/2025

175 YEARS OF ALBURY PUBLIC SCHOOL
"The tenders for the new buildings for the Albury Public School have been examined, and that of Mr. Charles Hardy, contractor of Wagga, for £3400 accepted ... The plans for the new buildings are very handsome, and the school, when finished, will by no means be a disgrace to the town.” ‘Albury Banner,’ May 1, 1891.
The ‘Banner’ followed up on July 15, 1892 with “… the Superior Public School was occupied for the first time on Monday [July 11]. The new structure is very tastefully designed and fitted with all the conveniences and appliances found in the best school buildings of the day. The attendance is now over 600 …”
Tomorrow, August 9, there will be OPEN DAY activities from 11am to 2.30pm, with student performances, open classrooms, history display, merchandise, art show and bbq.

01/08/2025

ALBURY PUBLIC SCHOOL CELEBRATES 175 YEARS. Albury’s first school opened in 1850 as Albury National School on the south-east corner of Dean & Kiewa streets. The school moved to the building shown in these images, fronting Olive street, in January 1862, with Mr & Mrs Dwyer in charge. The ‘Then’ photograph was taken by H G Thomas. The right hand extension was the home of the school principal and has been long demolished. In the ‘Now’ photo, the left hand wing of the building is obscured by the tree.
Next Saturday, August 9, there will be OPEN DAY activities from 11am to 2.30pm, with student performances, open classrooms, history display, merchandise, art show and bbq.

27/07/2025

A great photo supplied by one of our followers.
The photo was taken in the Albury Botanic Gardens and appears to be a group involved in a theatre production. One of our members thought that she may be able to tentatively identify the man at the right hand side, left of the tree with the bow tie as Valentine Flood Nagle.
We would like to be able to identify who the group represent and perhaps a few names.
It will be difficult as the photo is probably about 100 years old. Any help would be appreciated.

25/07/2025

Flooding at the Albury Sportsground, in the early 20th century, possibly 1905, 1906 or 1909. The 'Border Morning Mail' of July 13, 1905 reported "The sports ground in its lowest corner is totally submerged." But the 1906 and 1909 floods were higher. The pavilion shown was used until 1915 when the present grandstand was built.

21/07/2025

18/07/2025

Earlier this year Albury & District Historical Society partnered with Albury LibraryMuseum to conduct three bus tours of local sites with a connection to World War I. Doug Hunter’s “Recovering the Past” gave us a glimpse of both the inspirational work of the mothers, wives and sisters who were left behind as local men went off to Worls War 1 and the tragedy of men who never returned.
A ‘virtual bus tour’ was a feature of the June A&DHS general meeting, Characters from the wartime era tell of events and their role in them. Characters include the mayor and mayoress, Red Cross president, concert group performer, clerk-of-courts, schoolboy, battery sergeant major, building contractor, church organist. Letters from the battlefield are shared. Cast members are from LibraryMuseum and Historical Society. Costumes are rudimentary, but ample to set the scene.”
You can see the 70 minute video ‘World War I Comes to Albury,’ a recording of the ‘virtual tour,’ by following the link to the A&DHS YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDzIPypinJegksrO-l2ssVg

11/07/2025

A panoramic view of South Albury from Monument Hill about 1920 - the Murray winding through Noreuil Park and Hovell Tree Park. Victoria is on the right and the hills and mountains in the background. The second Union Bridge can be seen, completed in 1898 and replaced by the present bridge in 1961.

04/07/2025

OUR JULY MEETING Our Annual General Meeting will be held on July 9 at the Commercial Club commencing at 7.30pm
After our AGM, guest speaker Nat Ward will speak on the topic ‘Commemorating Noreuil in France and Albury.’ Nat is an Albury based artist. She is primarily a painter of landscapes, with the Murray River and surrounding foreshores and wetlands providing constant inspiration. Nat has produced a series of paintings exploring the connection between Noreuil Park in Albury and the village of Noreuil in France. Noreuil was the site of intense World War I battles including an April day in 1917 when the ‘Albury Battery’ played a significant role in repelling a German advance. Nat will have just returned from being honoured in France and she will talk about the significance of her Noreuil project. ALL WELCOME

27/06/2025

In 1848 William Conley purchased the block of land on the corner of Smollett and Townsend streets and built the single storey Squatter’s Hotel. The hotel was taken over by Americans Adam Kidd and William Brickell, adding the second storey and renamed the hotel the Exchange. They retained the hotel until 1861 and with the money made from this and other business ventures in Albury, Brickell returned to America, purchased land in Florida and founded the city of Miami.
The hotel closed in 1884 and the building converted to a store. Later the site became Farmers & Graziers wool stores. The former hotel was demolished in 1933 as F & G significantly increased the size of their Albury wool store. Later business on the site included the Australian Tax Office, and more lately Quest Apartments.

20/06/2025

In the very early days, the town that we now know as Holbrook was known as Ten-Mile Creek. In 1858 the town became known as Germanton though its postal address remained Ten-Mile Creek for some time. Due to anti-German sentiment during World War I, the town name was changed to Holbrook in 1915 in honour of Lt. Norman Douglas Holbrook, a decorated wartime submarine captain and winner of the Victoria Cross.
In 1878 the NSW Government Gazette called for tenders to build a police station at Ten-Mile Creek, the tenders closing on April 23, 1878. The ‘Albury Banner’ reported on May 25, 1878 that the tender had been awarded to Albury builder Mr A (Adolph) Reiff.
The station survives and remains operational. Currently major restoration works are underway.
Photos supplied by Superintendent Paul Smith of Murray River Police District.